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A nuclear holocaust or nuclear apocalypse would be a possible complete or nearly complete annihilation of human life through the use of nuclear weapons. Under such a scenario, all or most of the Earth is made uninhabitable by nuclear warfare in future world wars. Nuclear physicists and theorists have speculated that nuclear war could result in the end of modern civilization on Earth due to the immediate effects of nuclear fallout, the temporary loss of much modern technology due to electromagnetic pulses, or the hypothetical effects of a nuclear winter and its resulting extinctions. Importantly however, despite modern high civilization being at risk, assuming weapons stockpiles at the previous Cold War heights, analysts and physicists have found that billions of humans would nevertheless survive a global thermonuclear war,〔(Critique of Nuclear Extinction – Brian Martin 1982 )〕〔(The Effects of a Global Thermonuclear War ). Johnstonsarchive.net. Retrieved on 2013-07-21.〕〔(the global health effects of nuclear war )〕〔(Long-term worldwide effects of multiple nuclear-weapons detonations. Assembly of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Research Council. )〕 but there is much debate about how the planet's environment would be affected by it and its consequences for the surviving population. Since 1947, the Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists visualizes how far the world is from a nuclear war. The threat of a nuclear holocaust plays an important role in the popular perception of nuclear weapons. It features in the security concept of mutually assured destruction (MAD) and is a common scenario in survivalism. Nuclear holocaust is a common feature in literature and film, especially in speculative genres such as science fiction, dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction. ==Etymology and usage== The English word "holocaust", derived from the Greek term "holokaustos" meaning "completely burnt", is commonly defined as "a great destruction resulting in the extensive loss of life, especially by fire."〔(American Heritage Dictionary definition of "holocaust" )〕 Possibly the first printed use of the word "holocaust" to describe an imagined nuclear destruction appears in Reginald Glossop's 1926 novel ''The Orphan of Space'': "Moscow ... beneath them ... a crash like a crack of Doom! The echoes of this Holocaust rumbled and rolled ... a distinct smell of sulphur ... atomic destruction."〔Reginald Glossop, The Orphan of Space (London: G. MacDonald, 1926), pp. 303–306.〕 In the novel, an atomic weapon is planted in the office of the Soviet dictator who, with German help and Chinese mercenaries, is preparing the takeover of Western Europe. In the 1960s, the word principally referred to nuclear destruction.〔Jon Petrie, ''(The Secular Word "HOLOCAUST": Scholarly Sacralization, Twentieth Century Meanings )''〕 After the mid-1970s, when the word "holocaust" became closely associated with the Nazi Holocaust,〔 references to nuclear destruction have usually spoken of "atomic holocaust" or "nuclear holocaust".〔For instance, U.S. President Bush stated in August 2007: "Iran's active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust," 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「nuclear holocaust」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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